1. Field of the Invention
Example embodiments generally relate to a holding member and a unit using the holding member, for example, for holding elements included in the unit to maintain the relative positions of the elements.
2. Description of the Related Art
A related-art image forming apparatus, such as a copier, a printer, a facsimile machine, or a multifunction printer having at least one of copying, printing, scanning, and facsimile functions, forms a toner image on a recording medium (e.g., a recording sheet). Thus, for example, a charging roller uniformly charges a surface of a photoconductor. An optical writer emits a light beam onto the charged surface of the photoconductor according to image data to form an electrostatic latent image on the photoconductor. A development device develops the electrostatic latent image with toner to form a toner image. The toner image is then transferred from the photoconductor onto a recording sheet. Finally, a fixing device applies heat and pressure to the recording sheet bearing the toner image to fix the toner image on the recording sheet, thus forming an image on the recording sheet.
Such image forming apparatus may include a photoconductor unit 120 including a photoconductor 122 and a charging roller 121, as illustrated in FIG. 1. Before being used in the image forming apparatus, the photoconductor unit 120 is shipped from a plant in a state in which the photoconductor unit 120 is either contained in a packing container 130 or installed in the image forming apparatus. During shipment, an attaching portion 110 of a holding member 100 is inserted into a gap 123 between the charging roller 121 and the photoconductor 122 to maintain the gap 123 between the charging roller 121 and the photoconductor 122 and keep the charging roller 121 and the photoconductor 122 separate, so that they do not come into contact and damage each other during shipment. Thus, the holding member 100 prevents change in a relative position between the charging roller 121 and the photoconductor 122 in a non-usage state in which the photoconductor unit 120 is not used.
When the packing container 130 is opened to form an opening 130A or when a cover of the image forming apparatus is opened initially, the attaching portion 110 of the holding member 100 inserted in the gap 123 between the charging roller 121 and the photoconductor 122 is pulled in a direction indicated by arrow A, thus shifting the photoconductor unit 120 from the non-usage state described above to a usage state in which the charging roller 121 contacts the photoconductor 122.
Typically, as illustrated in FIG. 2, a panel 101 formed of a sheet easily distinguishable from other elements or units contains instructions concerning handling of the holding member 100 and warnings concerning use of the photoconductor unit 120. A filament 102 connects the panel 101 with the attaching portion 110.
The shape of the attaching portion 110 varies depending on shapes of the elements between which the attaching portion 110 is inserted. For example, when the holding member 100 is used in a development device using non-magnetic one-component toner in which a flexible elastic member causes a doctor roller to contact a development roller, the attaching portion 110 of the holding member 100 is inserted into a gap between the doctor roller and a case to secure the gap so as to prevent the doctor roller from moving during shipment.
FIG. 3 is a side view of a holding member 100A used in such development device. The holding member 100A includes an attaching portion 110S including a spacer 110A and a U-shape portion 110B. In the U-shape portion 110B, parallel portions 110C are provided parallel to each other. An elastic connecting portion 110D connects an end of one of the pair of parallel portions 110C with an end of another one of the pair of parallel portions 110C. The attaching portion 110S is inserted into the gap between the doctor roller and the case in the development device to secure the gap therebetween. When the holding member 100A is pulled in a direction indicated by arrow B1, the attaching portion 110S is removed from the development device, readying the development device for use.
The holding member 100 (depicted in FIG. 2) or 100A is manually manufactured by winding the filament 102 (e.g., a wire) attached to the panel 101 and the attaching portion 110 (depicted in FIG. 2) or 110S, lengthening manufacturing time. Further, after the holding member 100 or 100A is removed from the development device, the panel 101, the filament 102, and the attaching portion 110 or 110S are made of different materials and therefore need to be separated from each other for disposal, resulting in increased workload and costs.
Moreover, when a bag or a box contains a plurality of holding members 100A and the holding members 100A are picked up from the bag or the box one by one, a picked-up holding member 100A may be entangled with other holding member 10A. For example, the filament 102 of one holding member 100A may enter a slit formed by the U-shape portion 110B of the attaching portion 110S of another holding member 100A, as illustrated in FIG. 4. Accordingly, the filament 102 may cause the panel 101 or the attaching portion 110S, to which the filament 102 is attached, to enter the attaching portion 110S of another holding member 100A, necessitating time and effort to disentangle the entangled holding members 100A from each other.
Obviously, such increased workload and costs for disentangling the holding members 100A is undesirable, and accordingly, there is a need for a technology to prevent entanglement of the holding members 100A.